scott crow: ‘Our message to fascists is not about trying to win popular support’: the role of violence in protest

“In anti-fascist work, a lot of times we’d
end up in scuffles and conflicts with neo-nazis as they were coming in
or leaving the protest.

“…[W]e’d use bats or sticks, different devices to stop them. They also had these,” says author and activist scott crow.

For
over three decades, scott’s been an activist working on various causes,
including environmental, animal rights, and anti-fascist issues.

He’s
damaged property and committed acts of violence against neo-nazis.
scott was under investigation by FBI counterterrorism agents. He’s never
been charged.

He says he no longer engages in violent activism,
nor does he think it’s the only or most important tool, but scott does
believe there are times when violence is “appropriate and necessary.”

“Even
though that kind of conflict is such a small part of anti-fascist
organizing, that is where it became clear that violence is necessary,”
says scott.

“You have to understand, it’s not just that I have a
different opinion from them. They are calling for genocide of whole
populations. If the words that they are saying will allow people to be
killed, will create spaces for people to be killed, then we will stop
them immediately.”

In terms of property destruction, scott doesn’t believe that should be considered a form of violence.

“You
can’t equate property with life…Like in the United States people kill
people for private property and I think that is inherently wrong.”

At
first, scott says he rejected violence in all forms, but one of the
incidents that got him thinking about the role of violence in social
change involved an abusive relationship in his neighborhood in the
mid-90s.

He says he’d see this woman being beaten by her boyfriend, the cops would be called, but nothing would change.

“One day, I finally took action to stop him from doing it and he left.

“I
saw it as very personal and very political at the same time…I began
to see it as community protection because he was terrorizing the whole
neighbourhood by doing these actions in the front yard.”

In
reference to the video of white nationalist Richard Spencer being
punched in the face, scott says he found it funny and telling that it
became viral.

“I’m not saying that everyone has to punch a
nazi…but that fact that it became a meme at all is a watershed change.
Because you have to understand, the left in the U.S. abhors
violence…Seeing that was very watershed because it was so accepted by
people.”

There’s a lot of debate now around the use of violence in protest or in social change, especially after Charlottesville,
Virginia. Part of the debate includes the question of whether violence
makes it easy to dismiss an entire movement and the issues being fought
for.

“Our
message to fascists is not about trying to win popular support. Our
message to fascists is that…if you are going to cause people to be
killed by your actions and your words, you’re going to have a high cost.

“…For
them to have a protest, it raises the cost for it. For them to show up
in public to speak about genocide and hate, it raises the cost…That’s
all it’s about. It’s a direct communication to them and direct action
against them.”